Virtualized equipment for multi-network and cross cell utilization

ABSTRACT

A user equipment (UE) device may include a memory and one or more processors. The one or more processors operate to determine one or more of a signal strength or signal quality for each of a plurality of networks available for connection via the communication interface and the antenna assembly. Virtual user equipment (VUE) for two or more of the identified plurality of networks are allocated and the UE device connects to the two or more networks using the respective VUEs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/702,123, filed Sep. 12, 2017, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/488,134, filed on Apr. 14, 2017, thecontents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

To satisfy the needs and demands of users of mobile communicationdevices, providers of wireless communication services continue toimprove and expand available services as well as networks used todeliver such services. One aspect of such improvements includes thedevelopment of wireless access networks as well as options to utilizesuch wireless access networks. A wireless access network may manage alarge number of devices. For example, a base station may service a largenumber of wireless devices. A large number of wireless devices mayoverwhelm the resources of the base station or the wireless accessnetwork.

More specifically, user devices may connect to a radio access network(RAN) via a radio access network connection with a base station (e.g., along term evolution (LTE) connection, a 5G connection, etc.). The basestation may allocate a quantity of network resources for transferringnetwork traffic to/from the user device and for exchanging overheadcontrol messages with the user device. When a number of user devicesabove a certain threshold connect to the base station, the user devicesmay experience degraded network performance as a result of aninsufficient quantity of network resources being available for each userdevice. Moreover, some of the user devices may experience poor signalquality when at a particular location, such as being inside a building,while other nearby user devices experience strong signal quality

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a first environment according to animplementation described herein;

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a second environment according to animplementation described herein;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a portion of an exemplary network ofFIGS. 1A and 1B;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration ofcomponents of the user device and access point devices of FIGS. 1A and1B;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating exemplary functional components of theUE device of FIGS. 1A and 1B;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a process for providing cross cellaggregation according to an implementation described herein;

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating another environment according to animplementation described herein;

FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating a modification to the environment ofFIG. 6A;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating exemplary functional components of theaccess point device of FIGS. 6A and 6B; and

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a process for providing multi-networkutilization according to an implementation described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers in different drawings identify the same orsimilar elements.

Consistent with implementations described, a device may communicate withmultiple base stations simultaneously to provide improved throughput toeither processes or applications executing on the device, or to devicesoperatively connected to the device. For example, systems and methodsdescribed herein may be implemented within a user device, such as asmart phone or tablet, and allow the device to transmit and receive datato/from multiple base stations, based on various criteria, such as thetype or data session, the relative bandwidth or other networkcharacteristics for the available base stations. In other embodiments,the above-described system may be implemented within a wireless accesspoint device that provides connectivity to a number of connected userdevices, e.g., via WiFi, wired Ethernet, etc.

FIG. 1A is a diagram of an overview of a first exemplary environment 100in which systems and methods described herein may be implemented.Environment 100 may include a user device 105, a number of base stations110-1 to 110-N, a network 115, and a service provider 120.

User device 105 may include a mobile device, such as wireless orcellular telephone device (e.g., a conventional cell phone with dataprocessing capabilities), a smart phone, a personal digital assistant(PDA) with cellular access, etc. In another implementation, user device105 may include any type of mobile computer device or system, such as apersonal computer (PC), a laptop, a tablet computer, a notebook, anetbook, a wearable computer (e.g., a wrist watch, eyeglasses, etc.), agame playing device, a music playing device, a home appliance device, ahome monitoring device, an automobile device, etc., that may includecommunication functionality. User device 105 may connect to network 115and other devices in environment 100 (e.g., service provider 120, etc.)via a wireless interface described herein. User device 105 and theperson associated with user device 105 (e.g., the party holding or usinguser device 105) may be referred to collectively as user device 105 inthe description below.

Base stations 110-1 to 110-N (individually referred to as base station110 and collectively as base stations 110) may include network devicesthat provide a radio interface between network 115 and user device 105,with each base station 110 covering a defined region, sometimes referredto as a cell or sector. The coverage areas associated with each basestation 110 are graphically depicted in FIG. 1A as circles centered oneach base station 110. Although the coverage regions in FIG. 1A aredepicted as extending symmetrically or radially about the respectivebase station, it should be understood that a region of coverage providedby each base station may not by symmetrical or radial in practice, andis based on various characteristics, such as geography, topology, anumber and location of any permanent or transient structures (buildings,vehicles, etc.), transmitter power, etc. To provide effective cellcoverage, it may be necessary or advantageous for each base station 110to, where possible, support or cover portions of respective regions thatoverlap with portions of neighboring regions. Such a layout enablesefficient handover from one serving base station to a neighboring basestation as necessary, such as when a user device 105 moves from one areato another.

Network 115 may include one or more wired, wireless and/or opticalnetworks that are capable of receiving and transmitting data, voiceand/or video signals. For example, network 115 may include one or morepublic switched telephone networks (PSTNs) or other type of switchednetwork. Network 115 may also include one or more wireless networks andmay include a number of transmission towers for receiving wirelesssignals and forwarding the wireless signals toward the intendeddestinations. Network 115 may further include one or more satellitenetworks, one or more packet switched networks, such as an Internetprotocol (IP) based network, a local area network (LAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), a personal area network (PAN), a long term evolution(LTE) network, a WiFi network, a Bluetooth network, an intranet, theInternet, or another type of network that is capable of transmittingdata. Network 115 provides wireless packet-switched services andwireless Internet protocol (IP) connectivity to user devices 105 toprovide, for example, data, voice, and/or multimedia services.

Service provider 120 may include one or more computer devices andsystems associated with providing services via network 115. For example,service provider 120 may store information regarding service plans for alarge number of subscribers (also referred to herein as customers) andtrack data usage for each subscriber over a period of time (e.g., onemonth).

As shown in FIG. 1A, user device 105 is positioned at a nexus or pointof overlap within the coverage regions for each of base stations 110.Given the relative locations of base stations 110 to user device 105 orother factors (interference, obstructions, etc.), no particular basestation 110 may exhibit dominant performance relative to the other basestations 110. Such a scenario is referred to as PCI (physical cellidentifier) pollution, where a PCI is a semi-unique identifiercorresponding to a particular base station that is derived from downlinksynchronization signals (e.g., the primary synchronization signal (PSS)and secondary synchronization signal (SSS)) transmitted by the basestation. PCI pollution, particularly in combination with other less thanoptimal network characteristics, such as signal to interference plusnoise ratio, etc., may negatively impact throughput or performance byuser device 105, particularly with multiple concurrent data sessions(e.g., application download, media streaming, etc.).

Consistent with embodiments described herein, user device 105 mayinclude components configured to enable user device 105 to operativelycouple to more than one of base stations 110 simultaneously, in a mannerthat is transparent to the base stations 110 or functional aspects ofnetwork 115.

Arrows 130-1 to 130-N in FIG. 1A illustrate the different connections.In some embodiments, the connections between user device 105 andrespective base stations 110 may be based on particular data sessions,base station capacity, signal strength or quality, network statistics,etc. More specifically, as described in additional detail below, userdevice 105 may be configured to include a plurality or “pool” of virtualuser equipment or VUEs. During operation, user device 105 may allocateor assign a particular VUE from the pool of available VUEs with anavailable base station 110 (e.g., based on respective PCIs). Using theassigned VUEs, user device 105 may negotiate attachment to the each ofthe available base stations 110 as if different physical devices wereeach requesting access. Once connected, a scheduling engine may then beconfigured to map data or traffic associated with particularapplications or particular types of data with respective VUEs, so thatthe respective data sessions are performed using the base stationattached to the particular VUE. By enabling user device 105 to connectto and utilize multiple base stations 110 simultaneously, networkperformance may be essentially aggregated to provide an improvedexperience, from both a user and a network perspective.

FIG. 1B is a diagram of an overview of a second exemplary environment150 in which systems and methods described herein may be implemented.Environment 150 may include user devices 155-1 through 155-J(individually referred to as user device 155 and collectively as userdevices 155), access point device 160, base stations 110, wirelessnetwork 115, and service provider 120. Where appropriate, like numeralshave been used to designate similar elements in each of environments 100and 150.

For example, similar to environment 100 described above, base stations110 and network 115 may be configured to receive connection requestsfrom user equipment and to provide network access to connected userequipment. However, unlike the configuration of environment 100,environment 150 includes access point device 160 that includescomponents configured to provide and allocate the virtual UEs forconnection to base stations 110.

Access point device 160 may also include wired or wireless interfacesfor operatively connecting to user devices 155, such as WiFi, Ethernet,other types of networks. In environment 150, wireless network 115 may beutilized as a backhaul network and the interface between user devices155 and access point device 160 may be utilized as the access network.

Although base stations 110 are described herein as corresponding toindividual cells or sectors in a one to one relationship, such animplementation is merely exemplary. In other implementations, basestations 110 may support multiple sectors at a single site, for exampleusing antenna arrays oriented in different directions, etc.Consequently, it may be possible for the cross cell aggregation systemdescribed herein to be utilized on a single base station 110, ratherthan across different base stations 110.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a portion of network115. In the implementation depicted in FIG. 2, network 115 is a longterm evolution (LTE) network. It should be understood, however, thatembodiments described herein may operate in other types of wirelessnetworks, such as networks operating with other networking standards,such Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), IS-2000, etc.

Network 115 may include an evolved packet core (ePC) that includes basestations 110 (e.g., evolved Node B (eNodeBs) 110), mobile managemententity (MME) 230, serving gateway (SGW) 240, packet gateway (PGW) 250,home subscriber server (HSS) 260 and policy and charging rules function(PCRF) 270. Base stations 110 may be part of an evolved Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network(eUTRAN).

Base stations 110 may include one or more devices and other componentshaving functionality that allow user device 105/access point device 160to wirelessly connect to network 115. As briefly described above, basestations 110 may be associated with one or more cells/sectors. Forexample, each cell or sector in network 115 may include one or moreradio frequency (RF) transceivers pointed in a particular direction. Inone implementation, some of the base stations 110 may be associated withmultiple sectors (e.g., 2, 3 or more) of network 115. In such animplementation, a base station 110 may include multiple RF transceiverspointed in different directions to service different geographic areas.The term “sector” as used herein shall be broadly construed as anygeographic area associated with a base station 110 (e.g., eNode B) orother element of a radio network, and may be used interchangeably withthe term “cell.” Each sector in network 115 may also be associated withmultiple carriers. For example, a base station 110 may include multipleradios that operate at different frequencies or different frequencybands in the same sector.

Base stations 110 may interface with MME 230. MME 230 may include one ormore devices that implement control plane processing for network 115.For example, MME 230 may implement tracking and paging procedures foruser devices 105/access point device 160, may activate and deactivatebearers for user devices 105, may authenticate respective users of userdevices 105, and may interface with non-LTE radio access networks. Abearer may represent a logical channel with particular quality ofservice (QoS) requirements, and can be used in some embodiments tocontrol packet flows as described herein. MME 230 may also select aparticular SGW 240 for a particular user device 105/access point device160. MME 230 may interface with other MME devices (not shown) in network115 and may send and receive information associated with user device105/access point device 160, which may allow one MME 230 to take overcontrol plane processing of user device 105/access point device 160serviced by another MME 230, if the other MME 230 becomes unavailable.

SGW 240 may provide an access point to and from user devices user device105/access point device 160, may handle forwarding of data packets foruser device 105/access point device 160, and may act as a local anchorpoint during handover procedures between base stations 110. SGW 240 mayinterface with PGW 250. PGW 250 may function as a gateway to a packetdata network (PDN) 280, such as a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., theInternet, etc.) that allows delivery of Internet protocol (IP) servicesto user devices 105/155.

HSS 260 may store information associated with user device 105/accesspoint device 160 and/or information associated with users of user device105/access point device 160. For example, HSS 260 may store userprofiles that include authentication and access authorizationinformation. Each user/subscription profile may include a list of userdevice 105/access point device 160 associated with the subscriptions aswell as an indication of which user device 105/access point device 160are active (e.g., authorized to connect to network 115).

PCRF 270 may implement policy charging and rule functions, such asproviding quality of service (QoS) requirements, bandwidth and/orcharges for a particular service for user device 105/access point device160. PCRF 270 may determine how a certain service data flow will betreated, and may ensure that user plane traffic mapping and treatment isin accordance with a user's subscription profile.

Although FIG. 2 shows exemplary components of network 115, in otherimplementations, network 115 may include fewer components, differentcomponents, differently arranged components, or additional componentsthan depicted in FIG. 2. For example, network 115 may include a largenumber of base stations 110, MMES 230, SGWs 240, PGWs 250, HSSs 260 andPCRFs 270. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components ofnetwork 115 may perform functions described as being performed by one ormore other components.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary configuration of a device 300 thatcorresponds to user device 105/access point device 160 (referred togenerally as user equipment (UE) 105/160) or service provider 120. Asshown, device 300 may include bus 310, processor 320, memory 330, inputdevice 340, output device 350, communication interface 360, and antennascomponents 370-1 to 370-N. Bus 310 may include a path that permitscommunication among the elements of device 300.

Processor 320 may include one or more processors, microprocessors,microcontrollers, or processing logic that may interpret and executeinstructions. Memory 330 may include a random access memory (RAM) oranother type of dynamic storage device that may store information andinstructions for execution by processor 320. Memory 330 may also includea read only memory (ROM) device or another type of static storage devicethat may store static information and instructions for use by processor320. Memory 330 may further include a solid state drive (SDD). Memory330 may also include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium (e.g., ahard disk) and its corresponding drive.

Input device 340 may include a mechanism that permits a user to inputinformation to NSS 120, such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a pen, amicrophone, a touch screen, voice recognition and/or biometricmechanisms, etc. Output device 350 may include a mechanism that outputsinformation to the user, including a display (e.g., a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD)), a printer, a speaker, etc. In some implementations, atouch screen display may act as both an input device and an outputdevice.

Communication interface 360 may include one or more transceivers thatdevice 300 uses to communicate with other devices via wired, wireless oroptical mechanisms. For example, communication interface 360 may includeone or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, receivers and/ortransceivers and one or more antennas for transmitting and receiving RFdata via network 115. Communication interface 360 may also include amodem or an Ethernet interface to a LAN or other mechanisms forcommunicating with elements in a network, such as network 115 or anothernetwork.

Consistent with implementations described herein, device 300 may includea plurality of antennas components 370-1 to 370-N (collectively referredto as antennas 370 and individually as antenna 370) for operativelycoupling to base stations 110. Each antenna 370 may include hardware(e.g., DAC/ADC converters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc.) forinterfacing with base stations 110.

The exemplary configuration illustrated in FIG. 3 is provided forsimplicity. It should be understood that device 300 (e.g., UE 105/160)may include more or fewer components than illustrated in FIG. 3. In anexemplary implementation, device 300 perform operations in response toprocessor 320 executing sequences of instructions contained in acomputer-readable medium, such as memory 330. A computer-readable mediummay be defined as a physical or logical memory device. The softwareinstructions may be read into memory 330 from another computer-readablemedium (e.g., a hard disk drive (HDD), SSD, etc.), or from anotherdevice via communication interface 360. Alternatively, hard-wiredcircuitry may be used in place of or in combination with softwareinstructions to implement processes consistent with the implementationsdescribed herein. Thus, implementations described herein are not limitedto any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary functional block diagram of componentsimplemented in UE 105/160. In an exemplary implementation, all or someof the components illustrated in FIG. 4 may be implemented by processor320 executing software instructions stored in memory 330. As shown, UE105/160 may include base station monitoring logic 410, virtual UE logic420, data flow management logic 430, scheduler logic 440, management andcontrol logic 450, and database 460. In alternative implementations oneor more of these components may be located externally with respect to UE105/160, such as via an accessory or add-on device coupled to UE105/160.

Base station monitoring logic 410 may include logic to identifyavailable base stations 110 to which UE 105/160 may attach. For example,communication interface 360 may receive identification information thatis broadcast by base stations 110 at particular frequencies or ranges offrequencies associated with UE 105/160 and service provider 120. Theidentification information may include the PSS and SSS of the basestation 110 as well as additional information, from which the PCI foreach base station 110 may be determined. A well provisioned accessnetwork of base stations 110 will vary the PSS and SSS values forrespective base stations 110 such that neighboring or closely adjacentbase stations 110 will not share a common PCI value.

Base station monitoring logic 410 may ascertain a signal strength (e.g.,reference signal received power (RSRP)) and/or signal quality (e.g.,reference signal received quality (RSRQ)) associated with eachidentified base station 110 and may store the information in database460 for use by virtual UE logic 420 in implementing one or more virtualUEs. In addition to signal power and signal quality, base stationmonitoring logic 410 may also measure or calculate additional networkcharacteristics indicative of the quality or capability of each basestation 110, such as signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR),call quality indicator (CQI), radio link control (RLC) delay, etc. Thesevalues may be stored in database 460 and updated at defined intervalsfor use by virtual UE logic 420, flow management logic 430, and schedulelogic 440, as described below.

Virtual UE logic 420 may include logic to instantiate or manage avirtual UE for each available base station 110 identified by basestation monitoring logic 410. In some implementations, virtual UE logic420 may be configured to instantiate a virtual UE when the measuredsignal strength and/or signal quality values (e.g., RSRP/RSRQ) for aparticular base station 110 surpass a predetermined threshold,indicating that the quality of the connection is sufficient to supportat least a minimum level of service. In some embodiments, virtual UElogic 420 may determine whether any available base station 110 isdominant relative to other available base stations. If it is determinedthat a base station 100 is dominant, virtual UE logic 420 may determineto instantiate only a single virtual UE for the dominant base station,and not instantiate UE for other available base stations 110. In otherembodiments, virtual UEs may be instantiated for all available basestations that exhibit minimum power or quality, regardless of whether asingle base station is dominant. In this embodiment, data flowassignments may be made to take the relative dominance intoconsideration.

Consistent with embodiments described herein, UE 105/160 may beallocated a pool of unique UE identifiers (e.g., IMSI (internationalmobile subscriber identity) numbers) by, e.g., service provider 120 atthe time of device provisioning. For example, such values may beprovided on a universal integrated circuit card (UICC, also referred toas a subscriber identity module (SIM) card) or otherwise uniquelyassociated with UE 105/160 in a manner known to service provider 120.These allocated UE identifiers may be used by virtual UE logic 420 wheninstantiating each virtual UE and connecting to a base station 110 sothat communications between UE 105/160 and base stations 110 using avirtual UE may be properly associated with a UE 105/160 forauthentication, accounting, and authorization purposes.

Once a virtual UE has been instantiated and assigned to a particularbase station 110, virtual UE logic 420 may be configured to communicatewith base station 110 as if virtual UE were a standalone device. Inother words, from the perspective of base station 110 and network 115,the virtual UE assigned to the base station 110 performs no differentlythan a conventional UE or a user device with respect to attachment,registration, paging, channel selection, etc. More specifically, eachvirtual UE may support the entirety of the LTE protocol stack, includingthe physical layer (PHY), the medium access layer (MAC), radio linkcontrol (RLC), packet data convergence control (PDCP), radio resourcecontrol (RRC), and non-access stratum (NAS) protocols.

As described briefly above, in some implementations, each instantiatedvirtual UE may be assigned or otherwise associated with a particularantenna component 370, thus providing a dedicated communication pathbetween the virtual UE and the base station 110 to which it has beenassigned. In some instances, the relationship between a virtual UE and aparticular antenna component 370 may be fixed, whereas in otherinstances, the link between virtual UE and a particular antennacomponents 370 may be dynamic and may be based, for example, onparticular capabilities (e.g., tunings) of antenna components, etc. Inany event, the relationships between each instantiated virtual UE,antenna component 370, and attached base station 110 may be maintainedin database 460 for use in data flow handling, as described inadditional detail below. In other embodiments, a single antennacomponent 370 may be used to service all virtual UEs, with differencesin channels, modulation allow UE 105/160 to simultaneously communicatewith the connected base stations 110.

Virtual UE logic 420 may be further configured to determine when a basestation 110 is no longer available for use by UE 105/160, e.g., byperiodically monitoring the content of database 460 as updated by basestation monitoring logic 410. For example, when the signal strengthand/or quality corresponding to a particular base station 110 fallsbelow the predetermined threshold(as), the virtual UE corresponding tothe base station 110 may be either torn down (deleted) or returned tothe pool of available virtual UEs.

In other embodiments, when a data session utilizing the impacted virtualUE and the base station 110 in question is in progress, the session maybe handed off to another base station 110. In some instances, this mayrequire handing off to a new, unattached base station 110 by the currentvirtual UE. In other instances, the data session may be handed off toanother base station 110 that is already attached to another virtual UE,resulting in two (or more) virtual UEs being attached to a single basestation 110. In this scenario, handoff is performed consistent withconventional LTE processing.

In other instances, such as when there are no additional, unattached,base stations available, the data session may be handed off to anotherpreviously instantiated virtual UE attached to a different base station.Because systems described herein necessarily require connection tomultiple base stations, even where one or more of the base stations 110exhibit poorer signal power/quality relative to one or more other basestations 110, it may be necessary to suspend traditional power/qualitybased-UE mobility to prevent pooling of all data flows on a single, mostdominant, base station 110, such as with a traditional one-to-one LTEmodel.

However, in instances in which a base station becomes unavailable, suchlimited mobility may cause loss of data for flows previously assigned tothe lost base station. Consistent with embodiments described herein,mobility may be only enabled in the event of a base station 110 failure(e.g., complete loss of communication with a particular base station110). In this scenario, no additional or “new” data flows are assignedto the virtual UE associated with the failed base station 110

Data flows currently utilizing the virtual UE associated with the failedbase station 110 are maintained until resolved via LTE mobilityprocessing (e.g., handover) to another virtual UE. At this point,virtual UE logic 420 deactivates the virtual UE and returns it to thepool of available virtual UEs.

Data flow management logic 430 may include logic to manage bearer layerprotocols for identification and scheduling by scheduler logic 440. Forexample, data flow management logic 430 may monitor data flowing to andfrom UE 105/160 for mapping (assigning) and scheduling by schedulerlogic 440 based on, for example, data type, bandwidth requirements,application, source, destination, etc. The data may include one or moreof HTTP, IP, TCP, and UDP data. In some implementations, suchidentification and mapping may be performed based on application layer(i.e., layer 4) or transport layer (i.e., layer 3) information includedin data requests to and from UE 105/160. For example, data flowmanagement logic 430 may monitor TCP segments relating to data beingtransmitted by UE 105/160 and segregate the segments based on type ordestination. Data flow management logic 430 may also identify newsession requests for which a layer 3 stream has not yet commenced.Information regarding data flows may be stored in database 460.

Scheduler logic 440 may include logic to assign data flows identified bydata flow management logic 430 to instantiated virtual UEs. For example,scheduler logic 440 may retrieve the data flow information from database460 and may assign the flows to specific virtual UEs based on variouscriteria, such as expected bandwidth requirement, type of service, etc.,with those requiring better performance being assigned to virtual UEsassociated with base stations 110 having high quality connections (e.g.,higher SNR or SINR values, higher RSRQ/RSRP values, etc.). In someembodiments, where quality of base station connections is similar, dataflows may be load balanced or distributed across the instantiatedvirtual UEs to increase throughput and/or performance. In otherembodiments, where signal quality of one or more particular basestations 110 is greater than other base stations for which virtual UEshave been instantiated, all data flows may be assigned to those higherperforming virtual UEs.

Management and control logic 450 may include logic to monitor andanalyze the performance of other components of UE 105/160, such asvirtual UE logic 420, data flow management logic 430, and schedulerlogic 440. In some embodiments, management and control logic 450 mayperform additional UE and network-related operations, administration,and maintenance (OAM) functions consistent with conventional wirelessnetwork devices.

Database 460 may include one or more data storage devices that store oneor more databases of information associated with UE 105/160 and network115. For example, as described above, base station monitoring logic 410,virtual UE logic 420, and data flow management logic 430 may store dataregarding identified base stations 110, allocated or unallocated virtualUEs, and data flows generated or received by UE 105 in database 460.

An optional component of UE 105/160 may include network monitoring logic460 to identify data capacity or usage statistics regarding network 115during actual loading conditions in real time or near real time. In oneimplementation, network monitoring logic 460 may communicate withvarious base stations 110, as well as other devices in network 115, suchas SGW 240, PGW 250, and MME 230. In addition, network monitoring logic460 may identify total data traffic on a per base station basis. Forexample, network monitoring logic 460 may gather radio performancemeasurements from each base station 110 in network 115 over variousperiods of time. Network monitoring logic 460 may store this informationin database 460.

Although FIG. 4 shows exemplary components of UE 105/160, in otherimplementations, UE 105/160 may include fewer components, differentcomponents, differently arranged components, or additional componentsthan depicted in FIG. 4. In addition, functions described as beingperformed by one of the components in FIG. 4 may alternatively beperformed by another one or more of the components of UE 105/160.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process 500associated with providing cross cell aggregation in a wireless networkconsistent with embodiments described herein. Process 500 may begin withUE 105/160 identifying available base stations 110 (block 505). Forexample, as described above, base station monitoring logic 410 mayreceive identification information from nearby base stations 110 and mayascertain the strength or quality of the connection to the base stations110.

Next, UE 105/160 may determine, for each identified base station 110,whether to instantiate, maintain, or tear down a virtual UE (block 510).For example, virtual UE logic 420 may determine that a new base station110 has become available, such as when UE 105/160 is mobile across ageographic region. Virtual UE logic 420 may then determine whether avirtual UE should be assigned or handed over to the base station 110,based, for example, on metrics relating to signal strength or signalquality corresponding to the base station 110. In some implementations,these metrics may be ascertained or calculated by base stationmonitoring logic 410 and stored/updated in database 460 on a periodicbasis (e.g., about 1.0 millisecond). If the metrics corresponding to thebase station 110 do not meet minimum requirements, it may be determinedto not allocate or assign a virtual UE to the base station 110.Processing may then advance to a next available base station 110,identified by base station monitoring logic 410.

However, if it is determined that the signal metrics corresponding tothe base station 110 meet or exceed minimum requirements (block510—Instantiate), a virtual UE may be allocated to the base station 110or assigned from a pool of available virtual UEs (block 515). Asdescribed above, each UE 105/160 may be allocated a number of UEidentities for use as virtual UEs. In some embodiments, physicalhardware requirements may limit the number of virtual UEs that may beinstantiated simultaneously, such as a number of discrete antennacomponents, available processing or memory capacity, etc. If allavailable virtual UEs have been previously allocated to other availablebase stations 110, virtual UE logic 420 may rank the available basestations 110 and may tear down a session with a lowest ranking,currently unused base station 110 to accommodate instantiation of avirtual UE to the new base station. Additionally, consistent withembodiments described herein, virtual UE logic 420 may facilitatehandover from one base station to the new base station for a previouslyassigned virtual UE.

Next, UE 105/160 may perform network access for the assigned or handedover virtual UE (block 520). In particular, UE 105/160 may attach to thenew base station using the assigned or handed over virtual UE (block520). As described above, attachment using a virtual UE may be performedin a manner that is identical to conventional UE attachment to a basestation, except that the UE identity corresponds to the assigned virtualUE identity instead of a singular identity associated with UE 105/160.Processing may then determine whether any additional base stations 110are available for review (block 525). If additional base stations are tobe reviewed (block 525—Yes), processing returns to block 510 for thenext base station. However, if the available base stations have beenreviewed (block 525—No), processing continues to block 530, as describedbelow.

Returning to block 510, when a UE has been previously instantiated foran available base station 110, UE 105/160 may determine whether tomaintain the UE. For example, virtual UE logic 420 may determine whetherthe signal strength or quality for the base station has dropped below athreshold level, or whether a ranking of the base station relative toother available base stations makes the virtual UE a candidate forhandover or teardown.

For example, UE 105/160 may determine whether one or more data flows arecurrently allocated to a virtual UE. If so, virtual UE logic 420 maydetermine to maintain the virtual UE associated with a particular basestation (block 510—Maintain), even where signal strength or othermetrics are inferior to other base stations. Once it is determined tomaintain the instantiation of the virtual UE, connection to network 115may be continued (block 535). Consistent with embodiments describedherein, maintaining of a virtual UE instantiation may include handoverto a different base station 110, as briefly described above. Processingmay then determine whether any additional base stations 110 areavailable for review (block 525), as described above.

In the event that the current virtual UE assigned to a particular basestation 110 is not being used (i.e., no data flows are assigned), orwhen the number of available and suitable base stations 110 is less thanthe number of instantiated virtual UEs, it is determined to tear downthe instantiated virtual UE (block 510—Tear Down) and the virtual UE istorn down (e.g., removed from memory) or returned to the pool ofavailable virtual UEs (block 540). Consistent with embodiments describedherein, tear down of a virtual UE may, where possible, includereassignment or handover of data flows assigned to the virtual UE to adifferent virtual UE associated with a base station having a strongersignal strength or better performance metrics (CQI, RLC delay, etc.).Processing may then determine whether any additional base stations 110are available for review (block 525), as described above.

Turning to block 530, once virtual UEs have been assigned to any and allidentified and suitable base stations 110 for a given monitoringinterval, data flows associated with UE 105/160 may be determined. Asdescribed above, data flow management logic 430 may identify data flowsbased on layer 3 (IP) or layer 4 (TCP/UDP) information relating to datatransmitted or received by UE 105/160. For example, TCP segments havinga particular combination of source and destination ports may beidentified as a data flow. In some embodiments, the identified dataflows may be associated with particular data session requirements, suchas required or optimal values for bandwidth, latency, jitter, packetloss, etc., which may be ascertained based on the content of the IP toTCP/UDP data being analyzed. In some embodiments, the identified dataflows may be ranked based on the determined data session requirements tofacilitate assignment by scheduler logic 440 to particular virtual UEs.

At block 545, the identified data flows are assigned to particularvirtual UEs. For example, as described above, scheduler logic 440 mayassociate particular data flows or sets of data flows to particularvirtual UEs, based on metrics or characteristics associated with, forexample, network access to base stations 110. Essentially, the dataflows identified by data flow management logic 430 may be matched to theavailable virtual UEs based on a determination regarding which virtualUE and its corresponding base station 110 are best able to meet therequirements or expectations associated with the data flow. As anexample, a data flow having a lower bandwidth or throughput requirementmay be assigned to a virtual UE connected to a base station 110 having alower signal strength, or having a lower SINR value. It should beunderstood that embodiments described herein support both a one to onerelationship between data flows and virtual UEs as well as a many to onerelationship, in which multiple data flows may be assigned to a singleinstantiated UE.

Subsequent data corresponding to the data flows is then transmitted andreceived based on the assigned virtual UE (block 550). In particular,virtual UE logic 420 may forward the data flows assigned thereto viatheir respective radio connection with the corresponding base stations110. As described above, each virtual UE is configured to operate as astandalone entity from the perspective of base station 110 and network115. In this manner, data requirements for UE 105/160 (e.g., anindividual UE with multiple data flows), or multiple UE's accessingnetwork 115 via AP 160) may be aggregated across a number of basestations 110.

FIG. 6A is a diagram of an overview of another exemplary environment 600in which systems and methods described herein may be implemented.Environment 600 may include user devices 605-1 through 605-J(individually referred to as user device 605 and collectively as userdevices 605), access point devices 607-1 and 607-2 (individuallyreferred to as access point device 607 and collectively as access pointdevices 607), base stations 610-1 to 610-N (individually referred to asbase station 610 and collectively as base stations 610), access networks615-1 to 615-M, and service providers 620-1 to 620-X.

Similar to user devices 155 described above, user devices 605 mayinclude mobile devices, such as wireless or cellular telephones or smartphones, PCs, laptops, tablets, etc. Furthermore, consistent with theembodiment of FIGS. 6A and 6B, user devices 605 may include one or morecomponents integrated within another device, such as information andentertainment (so-called “infotainment”), diagnostic, passenger personalelectronic devices (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, game systems, etc.),or vehicle control systems integrated within an automobile. User device605 may connect to one or more of access networks 615 and other devicesin environment 600 (e.g., service providers 620, other user devices 605,etc.) via a wired or wireless connection with access point device 607.

Consistent with embodiments described herein, access point device 607may include one or more interfaces (e.g., wired or wireless) foroperatively connecting user devices 605 to one or more base stations 610or other access point devices 607. For example, access point device 607may include a Wi-Fi® interface, an Ethernet interface, a Bluetooth®Interface, etc. for connecting to user devices 605. In addition, accesspoint devices 607 may include various wireless interfaces for enablingcommunication with base stations 610 and other access point devices 607(either one to one or via a mesh network of a number of access pointdevices 607).

Consistent with embodiments described herein, and as described inadditional detail below, the type and number of interfaces may beconfigurable and dynamic subsequent to installation to allow forchanging network environments, evolving communication standards, userselection/preference, etc. For example, in some implementations, asingle access point device 607 may be configurable to support 4G LTE,5G, Wi-Fi (e.g., 802.11x), machine to machine (M2M), and vehicle tovehicle (V2V) dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), therebyenabling user devices 605 connected to the access point device 607 tocommunicate with a variety of different devices that may be modified oradapted to various network and environmental circumstances.

The wireless ranges of access point devices 607 are graphically depictedin FIG. 6A as dashed circles centered on each access point device 607.It should be understood that this depiction is provided for merelyillustrative purposes. In practice, the effective range and coverage ofan access point device 607 may by impacted by many factors includingradio frequency interference, physical obstructions, communicationstechnology, transmitter power, etc.

Base stations 610 may include network devices that provide a radiofrequency interface between one or more access networks 615 and accesspoint devices 607, with each being associated with a particular accessnetwork 615 and covering a defined geographic region, sometimes referredto as a cell or sector. For example, consistent with embodimentsdescribed herein, base station 610-1 and access network 615-1 may becorrespond to a first network technology associated with a first serviceprovider such as a first wireless carrier (e.g., 4G LTE at specificaccess frequencies), while base station 610-N and access network 615-2may correspond to a second network technology associated with a secondservice provider (e.g., a M2M network). In other some embodiments,access networks 615 may include multiple different versions of a similaraccess technology (e.g. 4G LTE or 5G networks) operated by differentservice providers 620.

The coverage areas associated with each base station 610 are graphicallydepicted in FIG. 6A as solid circles centered on each base station 610.Although the coverage regions in FIG. 6A are depicted as extendingsymmetrically or radially about the respective base station, it shouldbe understood that a region of coverage provided by each base stationmay not by symmetrical or radial in practice, and is based on variouscharacteristics, such as geography, topology, a number and location ofany permanent or transient structures (buildings, vehicles, etc.),transmitter power, etc. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6A, base stations610 associated with different access networks 615 may operate inoverlapping or adjacent coverage regions.

Access networks 615 may include one or more networks that are capable ofreceiving and transmitting data, voice and/or video signals. Forexample, access networks 615 may include one or more public switchedtelephone networks (PSTNs) or other type of switched network. Accessnetworks 615 may further include one or more satellite networks, one ormore packet switched networks, such as an Internet protocol (IP) basednetwork, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), an LTEnetwork, a 5G network, an M2M network, a Wi-Fi network, an intranet, theInternet, etc. In still other implementations, access network 615 mayinclude an ad-hoc mesh network made up of a number of access pointdevices 607, such as a DSRC V2V mesh network and, in suchimplementations, may not include associated base stations 610.

Service providers 620 may include one or more computer devices andsystems associated with providing services via access networks 615. Forexample, service providers 620 may store information regarding serviceplans for a large number of subscribers (also referred to herein ascustomers) and track data usage for each subscriber over a period oftime (e.g., one month). Furthermore, as described in additional detailbelow, service providers 620 may be configured to support provisioningof virtual subscriber identity modules (SIMs) for allocation torequesting access point devices 607 in an on-demand, or dynamic manner.

As shown in FIG. 6A, each access point device 607 may be positioned at anexus or point of overlap within the coverage regions of a number ofbase stations 610 and other access point devices 607. Given the relativelocations of base stations 610 and access point devices 607, aparticular access point device 607 may be capable of operativelycommunicating with more than one base station 610 or other access pointdevice 607 simultaneously.

Consistent with embodiments described herein, access point device 607may include components configured to enable user device 605 tooperatively couple to more than one of base stations 610 and/or otheraccess point devices 607 simultaneously, in a manner that is transparentto the base stations 610 or other functional aspects of network 615. Forexample, similar to user device 105 described above in relation to FIGS.1A, access point device 605 may include antenna components 370 fortransmitting and receiving wireless signals from base stations 610and/or other access point devices 607.

Arrows 630-1 to 630-N in FIG. 6A illustrate the different connectionsbetween devices/networks. In some embodiments, the connections betweenaccess point devices 607 and respective base stations 610 (or otheraccess point devices 607) may be based on particular types of data, datasessions, base station capacity, signal strength or quality, networkstatistics, etc.

More specifically, as described in additional detail below, access pointdevice 607 may be configured to include a plurality or “pool” of virtualuser equipment identifications or VUEs. During operation, one or moreuser devices 605 may request connection with an access network 615and/or other user device 605 from access point device 607. In response,access point device 607 may allocate or assign a particular VUE from thepool of available VUEs with an available base station 610 or DSRCnetwork (e.g., a V2V network). Using the assigned VUEs, access pointdevice 607 may negotiate attachment to requested networks (e.g., viabase stations 610 or other access point devices 607) as if differentphysical devices were each requesting individual access. Once connected,a scheduling engine may then be configured to map data or trafficassociated with particular applications or particular types of data withrespective VUEs, so that the respective data sessions are performedusing the network device attached to the particular VUE. By enabling anaccess point device 607 to connect to and utilize multiple accessnetworks 615 or network connections simultaneously, an adaptable andconfigurable network interface may be provided that may be responsive tochanging network environments, technologies, and requirements.

Consistent with implementations described herein, to support dynamicprovisioning and attachment to different access networks 615, accesspoint devices 607 may be configured to request and securely receiveon-demand SIMs. In a traditional network environment, SIMs are providedto user devices as physical cards that are securely provisioned andassociated with a service provider during card manufacture. To support adynamic and configurable multi-network environment, such as thatdescribed in relation to FIG. 6A, access point devices 607 may beconfigured with software-based virtual SIMs (vSIMs) that areprovisionable and configurable on-demand as network needs andtechnologies change.

As described herein, access point devices 607 may request one or morevSIMs in response to a request from a user device 605 or in response toconfiguration of access point device 607 directly. In contrast with theVUE pool described above, requests for vSIMs may be transmitted byaccess point device 607 to a service provider for which a vSIM is beingrequested. For example, access point device 607 may transmit a vSIMrequest via a Radio Resource Control (RRC) setup messaging or duringsome other network attachment mechanism. For example, for an LTE accessnetwork 615, the vSIM request may be transmitted as part of theNon-Access Stratum (NAS) attach request payload. The vSIM request mayidentify an account identifier or device identifier that may associatethe request with a user's vSIM user account, which may have beenpreviously established via out-of-band communications (e.g., online,over the phone, via a dedicated application (app) associated with theaccess point device, etc.). In one implementation, as part of the vSIMrequest, access point device 607 may provide an authentication code(e.g., passcode, etc.) solicited from user input or stored in a localmemory (e.g., memory 330) to authenticate the vSIM request to therespective service provider 620.

FIG. 6B is a diagram of an overview of a second exemplary environment650 in which systems and methods described herein may be implemented.Environment 650 may include user devices 655-1 through 655-J(individually referred to as user device 655 and collectively as userdevices 655), base stations 610, access networks 615, and serviceproviders 620. Where appropriate, like numerals have been used todesignate similar elements in each of environments 600 and 650.

For example, similar to environment 600 described above, base stations610 and access networks 615 may be configured to receive connectionrequests directly from user devices 655 rather than via intermediaryaccess point devices 607. Consistent with embodiments described herein,user devices 655 may be configured to support and/or implement VUEallocation and vSIM request processing in a manner similar to thatdescribed above with respect to access point devices 607.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary functional block diagram of componentsimplemented in access point device 607 and/or user device 655. In anexemplary implementation, all or some of the components illustrated inFIG. 7 may be implemented by processor 320 executing softwareinstructions stored in memory 330. As shown, access point device607/user device 655 may include access network monitoring logic 710,virtual SIM (vSIM) platform 715, virtual UE (VUE) logic 720, data flowmanagement logic 730, scheduler logic 740, management and control logic750, and database 760. In alternative implementations one or more ofthese components may be located externally with respect to access pointdevice 607 or user device 655, such as via an accessory or add-ondevice.

Access network monitoring logic 710 may include logic to identifyavailable access networks 615 to which access point device 607/userdevice 655 may connect. For example, communication interface 360 mayreceive identification information that is broadcast by base stations110 or other access point devices 607/user devices 655 at particularfrequencies or ranges of frequencies associated particular networks ornetwork technologies. For cellular-type access networks 615, theidentification information may include the PSS and SSS of base station610 as well as additional information, from which the PCI for each basestation 110 may be determined. For ad-hoc or mesh networks that operatewithout base stations 610, the identification information may designatea particular access point device 607/user device 655 from which thesignal originates.

Access network monitoring logic 710 may ascertain a signal strength,signal quality, SINR, etc. associated with each identified base station610/access point device 607 and may store the information in database760 for use by vSIM platform 715 or VUE logic 720 in implementing one ormore virtual UEs. These received or calculated values may be updated atdefined intervals for use by vSIM platform 715, VUE logic 720, flowmanagement logic 730, and schedule logic 740, as described below.

vSIM platform 715 may include logic to request and instantiate virtualSIMs from service providers 120 in the manner described above. Forexample, vSIM platform 715 may be configured to ascertain whether a userwishes to connect to an access network 615 associated with a new (ordifferent) service provider 620. Such a determination may be made basedon received user input, predetermined criteria, location settings, etc.When it is determined that the access network 615 for the new serviceprovider 620 should be utilized, vSIM platform 715 may initiate a vSIMrequest as part of an attachment request transmitted to a base station610 associated with the particular access network 615. Consistent withembodiments described herein, in response to a vSIM request, serviceprovider 620 may authenticate the request and may allocate or assign avSIM to access point device 607.

VUE logic 720 may include logic to instantiate or manage a virtual UEfor one or more available base stations 610 and/or other access pointdevices 607 identified by access network monitoring logic 710. In someimplementations, VUE logic 720 may be configured to instantiate avirtual UE when the measured signal strength and/or signal qualityvalues for a particular base station 610 surpass a predeterminedthreshold, indicating that the quality of the connection is sufficientto support at least a minimum level of service. As described herein,VUEs may be instantiated for at least one base station 610 associatedwith available access networks 615 that have been associated with accesspoint device 607, e.g., based on an existing service providerrelationship, network technology settings, etc. In other embodiments,such as those described above with respect to FIGS. 1A-5, VUE logic 720may instantiate VUEs for more than one base station 610 associated witha particular service provider 120, so as to aggregate and optimizeconnectivity, etc.

Consistent with embodiments described herein, each access point 607 maybe allocated a pool of unique UE identifiers (e.g., IMSI numbers). Forexample, such values may be securely provided to vSIM platform 715during device manufacture and may be carrier or service provideragnostic (i.e., SIM or vSIM agnostic) in that they are not locked to orpermanently affiliated with any particular service provider. Theallocated UE identifiers may be used in combination with informationregarding assigned or allocated vSIMs by VUE logic 720 wheninstantiating each VUE and connecting to a base station 610 or otheraccess point device 607 so that communications between access pointdevice 607 and base stations 610/other access point device 607 using aVUE may be properly associated with the transmitting access point device607 for authentication, accounting, and authorization purposes.

Once a virtual UE has been instantiated and assigned to a particularbase station 610 (or other access point device 607/networkenvironment/technology), VUE logic 720 may be configured to communicatewith base station 610 as if the instantiated VUE were a standalone UEdevice associated with a traditional SIM rather than an assigned vSIM.In other words, from the perspective of base station 610 and/or accessnetwork 615, the VUE assigned to the base station 610 performs nodifferently than a conventional UE or a user device with respect toattachment, registration, paging, channel selection, etc. Morespecifically, each VUE may support an entire suite of network protocols,such as the entirety of the LTE protocol stack, including the physicallayer (PHY), the medium access layer (MAC), radio link control (RLC),packet data convergence control (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC),and non-access stratum (NAS) protocols. For non-base stationembodiments, such as device to device, ad-hoc, or mesh networkenvironments, a VUE may be instantiated to include any deviceinformation (e.g., a selected IMSI, etc.) necessary to communicate withdevices in such environments.

As described above, in some implementations, each instantiated VUE maybe assigned or otherwise associated with a particular antenna component370, thus providing a dedicated communication path between the virtualUE and the base station 610 to which it has been assigned. Consistentwith embodiments described herein, the relationship between a vSIMand/or a VUE and a particular antenna component 370 may be fixed or maybe dynamically based, for example, on particular capabilities (e.g.,tunings) of antenna components, etc. In other embodiments, a singleantenna component 370 may be used to service all vSIMs and VUEs, withdifferences in frequency, channels, modulation, etc. allowing accesspoint device 607/user devices 655 to simultaneously communicate with theconnected base stations 610 and/or other access point devices 607.

VUE logic 720 may be further configured to determine when a base station610 or other access point device 607 is no longer available for use byaccess point device 607, e.g., by periodically monitoring the content ofdatabase 460 as updated by access network monitoring logic 710. Forexample, when the signal strength and/or quality corresponding to aparticular base station 610 or access network 615 falls belowpredetermined threshold(s)(which may be different for each type ofconnection), VUE(s) corresponding to the base station 610 or otheraccess point device 607 may be either torn down (deleted) and returnedto the pool of available VUEs or the connections/sessions associatedwith the particular base station 610/access network 615 may be handedoff to other base station or network devices in the manner describedabove.

Data flow management logic 730 may include logic to manage bearer layerprotocols for identification and scheduling by scheduler logic 740. Forexample, data flow management logic 730 may monitor data flowing to andfrom access point device 607 for mapping (assigning) and scheduling byscheduler logic 740 based on, for example, data type, carrier (serviceprovider), bandwidth requirements, application, source, destination,etc. The data may include one or more of HTTP, IP, TCP, and UDP data. Insome implementations, such identification and mapping may be performedbased on application layer (i.e., layer 4) or transport layer (i.e.,layer 3) information included in data requests to and from access pointdevice 607. For example, data flow management logic 730 may monitor TCPsegments relating to data being transmitted by UE 105/160 and segregatethe segments based on type or destination. Data flow management logic730 may also identify new session requests for which a layer 3 streamhas not yet commenced. Information regarding data flows may be stored indatabase 760.

Scheduler logic 740 may include logic to assign data flows identified bydata flow management logic 730 to instantiated virtual UEs. For example,scheduler logic 740 may retrieve the data flow information from database760 and may assign the flows to specific virtual UEs based on variouscriteria or characteristics, such as expected bandwidth requirement,type of service (e.g., M2M, V2V, voice over IP), etc., with thosematching the required criteria being assigned to corresponding VUEs. Insome embodiments, where quality of multiple VUEs for multiple accessnetworks are capable of handling similar types of data, data flows maybe load balanced or distributed across the instantiated virtual UEs toincrease throughput and/or performance.

Management and control logic 750 may include logic to monitor andanalyze the performance of other components of access point device 607,such as vSIM platform 715, VUE logic 720, data flow management logic730, and scheduler logic 740. In some embodiments, management andcontrol logic 750 may perform additional UE and network-relatedoperations, administration, and maintenance (OAM) functions consistentwith conventional network devices.

Database 760 may include one or more data storage devices that store oneor more databases of information associated with access point device 607(or user device 655) and access networks 615. For example, as describedabove, access network monitoring logic 610, vSIM platform 615, VUE logic620, and data flow management logic 630 may store data regardingidentified base stations 610, access networks 615, assigned or allocatedvSIMs, allocated or unallocated VUEs, and data flows generated orreceived by access point device 607 (or user device 655) in database760.

Although FIG. 7 shows exemplary components of access point device 607and/or user device 655, in other implementations, these devices mayinclude fewer components, different components, differently arrangedcomponents, or additional components than depicted in FIG. 7. Inaddition, functions described as being performed by one of thecomponents in FIG. 7 may alternatively be performed by another one ormore of the components of access point device 607 and/or user device655.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process 800associated with providing cross cell aggregation in a wireless networkconsistent with embodiments described herein. Process 800 may begin withaccess point device 607 (or user device 655) identifying available basestations 610 and/or devices (e.g., other access point devices 607 oruser devices 655) with which it may communicate (block 805). Forexample, as described above, access network monitoring logic 710 mayreceive identification information from nearby base stations 610 orother devices 607 and may ascertain the strength or quality of theconnection, the type of access network 615 associated therewith, etc.

Next, access point device 607 (or user device 655) may determine, foreach identified base station 610 (or another access point device 607),whether to instantiate, maintain, or tear down a virtual UE (block 810).For example, VUE logic 720 may determine that a new base station 610 hasbecome available, such as when access point device 607 (or user device655) is mobile across a geographic region. VUE logic 720 may thendetermine whether a virtual UE should be assigned or handed over to thebase station 610 (or other device), based, for example, on metricsrelating to signal strength or signal quality corresponding to the basestation 610 or other network characteristics/requirements. In someimplementations, these metrics may be ascertained or calculated byaccess network monitoring logic 710 and stored/updated in database 460on a periodic basis (e.g., about 1.0 millisecond).

In addition, access network monitoring logic 710 may determine withwhich access networks 615 access point device 607 is configured tocommunicate. For example, access network monitoring logic 710 maydetermine whether a user has indicated that they would like to begincommunicating with a new access network 615 with which the base station610 is associated. As briefly described above, such an indication may bereceived in an out-of-band manner with respect to the particular accessnetwork 615, such as via an access point device configuration system, an“app” associated with access point device 607, an online configuration,etc.

If the metrics or other information corresponding to the base station610 do not meet minimum requirements or if a network relationship with aparticular base station 610 or other device is not established (block810—NO), it may be determined to not allocate or assign a virtual UE tothe base station 610. Processing may then advance to a next availablebase station 610 (or other device), identified by access networkmonitoring logic 710.

However, if it is determined that the signal metrics corresponding tothe base station 610 meet or exceed minimum requirements and that thebase station 610 corresponds to an access network with which accesspoint device 615 has a new or existing relationship (block810—Instantiate), a virtual UE may be allocated to the base station 610or assigned from a pool of available virtual UEs (block 815). Asdescribed above, each access point device 607 (or user device 655) maybe allocated a number of UE identities for use as virtual UEs. In someembodiments, physical hardware requirements may limit the number ofvirtual UEs that may be instantiated simultaneously, such as a number ofdiscrete antenna components, available processing or memory capacity,etc. If all available VUEs have been previously allocated to otheravailable base stations 610, VUE logic 720 may rank the available basestations 610 and may tear down a session with a lowest ranking orcurrently unused base station 610 to accommodate instantiation of avirtual UE to the new base station 610.

Next, access point device 607 (or user device 655) may determine, forthe current base station 610, whether a vSIM, where necessary, has beenpreviously allocated for use with the base station (block 820). Forexample, access point monitoring logic 710 may determine whether accesspoint device 607 is configured to communicate with an access network 615associated with the base station 610. Such configuration information maybe stored in database 760. When it is determined that a vSIM is notnecessary for the particular access network 615 (e.g., for direct orad-hoc communications networks), or that a vSIM has been previouslyallocated to access point device 607 for a particular base station 610(block 820—YES), processing continues to block 835 described below.

However, when it is determined that a vSIM is both required and has notbeen previously allocated to access point device 607 for a particularbase station 610 (block 820—NO), access point device 607 may initiate avSIM request procedure (block 825). For example, as described above,vSIM platform 715 of access point device 607 may transmit a vSIM requestto service provider 620 via base station 610 during attachment to basestation 610. The request may include information necessary toauthenticate the request, such as VUE identification information, apreviously shared passcode, authentication code, etc. In response, basestation 610 may forward the request to service provider 620 associatedtherewith for processing. The present example assumes that the requestis properly authenticated and that a vSIM is received from serviceprovider 620 (block 830).

Next, access point device 607 (or user device 655) may perform networkaccess for the assigned or handed over virtual UE (block 835). Forexample, access point device 607 (or user device 655) may attach to thenew base station 610 using the assigned or handed over VUE and allocatedvSIM. Alternatively, network access may be performed directly with otherdevices without a vSIM requirement, such as for ad-hoc networks, etc. Asdescribed above, attachment using a VUE may be performed in a mannerthat is identical to conventional UE attachment to a base station orother device, except that the UE identity corresponds to the assignedvirtual UE identity instead of a singular identity associated withaccess point device 607 (or user device 655). Processing may thendetermine whether any additional base stations 610 are available forreview (block 840). If additional base stations are to be reviewed(block 840—Yes), processing returns to block 810 for the next basestation/device. However, if the available base stations have beenreviewed (block 840—No), processing continues to block 855, as describedbelow.

Returning to block 810, when a VUE has been previously instantiated foran available base station 610 or network device/access network, accesspoint device 607 (or user device 655) may determine whether to maintainthe VUE. For example, VUE logic 720 may determine whether the signalstrength or quality for the base station 610 or connected device hasdropped below a threshold level, or whether a ranking of the basestation relative to other available base stations makes the VUE acandidate for handover or teardown.

For example, access point device 607 (or user device 655) may determinewhether one or more data flows are currently allocated to a virtual UE.If so, virtual UE logic 720 may maintain the virtual UE associated witha particular base station (block 810—Maintain), even where signalstrength or other metrics are inferior to other base stations. Once itis determined to maintain the instantiation of the VUE, connection tothe particular access network 615 may be continued (block 845).Consistent with embodiments described herein, maintaining of a virtualUE instantiation may include handover to a different base station 610,as briefly described above. Processing may then again determine whetherany additional base stations 610 are available for review (block 840),as described above.

In the event that the current virtual UE assigned to a particular basestation 610 is not being used (i.e., no data flows are assigned), orwhen the number of available and suitable base stations 610 is less thanthe number of instantiated virtual UEs, it is determined to tear downthe instantiated virtual UE (block 810—Tear down) and the virtual UE istorn down (e.g., removed from memory) or returned to the pool ofavailable virtual UEs (block 850). Consistent with embodiments describedherein, tear down of a virtual UE may, where possible, includereassignment or handover of data flows assigned to the virtual UE to adifferent virtual UE associated with a base station having a strongersignal strength or better performance metrics (CQI, RLC delay, etc.).Processing may then determine whether any additional base stations 610are available for review (block 840), as described above.

Turning to block 855, once virtual UEs have been assigned to any and allidentified and suitable base stations 610 or networks/devices for agiven monitoring interval, data flows associated with access pointdevice 607 (or user device 655) may be determined. As described above,data flow management logic 730 may identify data flows based on layer 3(IP) or layer 4 (TCP/UDP) information relating to data transmitted orreceived by access point device 607 (or user device 655). For example,TCP segments having a particular combination of source and destinationports may be identified as a data flow.

At block 860, the identified data flows are assigned to particularvirtual UEs. For example, as described above, scheduler logic 740 mayassociate particular data flows or sets of data flows to particularvirtual UEs, based on metrics or characteristics associated with, forexample, network access to base stations 610. Essentially, the dataflows identified by data flow management logic 730 may be matched to theavailable virtual UEs based on a determination regarding which virtualUE and its corresponding base station 610 are best able to meet therequirements or expectations associated with the data flow, includinginformation identifying the type of data being transmitted/received,etc.

Subsequent data corresponding to the data flows is then transmitted andreceived based on the assigned virtual UEs (block 865). In particular,VUE logic 420 may forward the data flows assigned thereto via theirrespective radio connection with the corresponding base stations610/other connected devices. As described above, each VUE is configuredto operate as a standalone entity from the perspective of base station610 and/or access networks 615. In this manner, a single access pointdevice 607 may operate as a dynamically configurable interface for avariety of different and possibly changing access networks 615.

In the preceding specification, various embodiments have been describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however, beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto, andadditional embodiments may be implemented, without departing from thebroader scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow.The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in anillustrative rather than restrictive sense. For example, while a seriesof blocks have been described with respect to FIGS. 5 and 8, the orderof the blocks and/or signal flows may be modified in otherimplementations. Further, non-dependent blocks may be performed inparallel.

It will be apparent that systems and/or methods, as described above, maybe implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, andhardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The actualsoftware code or specialized control hardware used to implement thesesystems and methods is not limiting of the embodiments. Thus, theoperation and behavior of the systems and methods were described withoutreference to the specific software code—it being understood thatsoftware and control hardware can be designed to implement the systemsand methods based on the description herein.

Further, certain portions, described above, may be implemented as acomponent that performs one or more functions. A component, as usedherein, may include hardware, such as a processor, an ASIC, or a FPGA,or a combination of hardware and software (e.g., a processor executingsoftware).

It should be emphasized that the terms “comprises”/“comprising” whenused in this specification are taken to specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps or components but does not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,components or groups thereof.

The term “logic,” as used herein, may refer to a combination of one ormore processors configured to execute instructions stored in one or morememory devices, may refer to hardwired circuitry, and/or may refer to acombination thereof. Furthermore, a logic may be included in a singledevice or may be distributed across multiple, and possibly remote,devices. Furthermore, as used herein, the terms assembly or componentare intended to be broadly construed as hardware, firmware, or acombination of hardware and software.

For the purposes of describing and defining the present invention, it isadditionally noted that the term “substantially” is utilized herein torepresent the inherent degree of uncertainty that may be attributed toany quantitative comparison, value, measurement, or otherrepresentation. The term “substantially” is also utilized herein torepresent the degree by which a quantitative representation may varyfrom a stated reference without resulting in a change in the basicfunction of the subject matter at issue.

To the extent the aforementioned embodiments collect, store or employpersonal information provided by individuals, it should be understoodthat such information shall be used in accordance with all applicablelaws concerning protection of personal information. Additionally, thecollection, storage and use of such information may be subject toconsent of the individual to such activity, for example, throughwell-known “opt-in” or “opt-out” processes as may be appropriate for thesituation and type of information. Storage and use of personalinformation may be in an appropriately secure manner reflective of thetype of information, for example, through various encryption andanonymization techniques for particularly sensitive information.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential to the embodiments unlessexplicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” isintended to include one or more items. Further, the phrase “based on” isintended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly statedotherwise.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, comprising: one or more processors to:determine one or more of a signal strength or signal quality for each ofa plurality of networks for connection; allocate respective virtual userequipment (VUEs) to two or more of the plurality of networks based onthe one or more of the signal strength or signal quality, wherein eachof the VUEs independently supports at least non-access stratum (NAS),physical layer (PHY), and medium access control (MAC) protocols forconnection to the two or more networks; and connect with each of the twoor more networks using a respective VUE from the allocated VUEs.
 2. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the two or more networks comprise differenttypes of networks.
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the different typesof networks comprise two or more of cellular networks, a wireless datanetwork, an ad-hoc network, a mesh network, a machine-to-machinenetwork, different service provider networks, or a vehicle-to-vehiclenetwork.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the two or more networks areoperated by two or more different service providers.
 5. The device ofclaim 1, wherein a first network of the two or more networks requiresthat the device include a subscriber identification module (SIM), andwherein the one or more processors are further to: request a virtual SIM(vSIM) from a service provider associated with the first network;receive the requested vSIM from the service provider; and connect withthe first network based on the allocated VUE and the vSIM.
 6. The deviceof claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further to: identifynetwork characteristics for the connections with the plurality ofnetworks; identify data flows; and assign the identified data flows torespective VUEs based on the identified network characteristics.
 7. Thedevice of claim 6, wherein the data flows are identified based on sourceand/or destination information.
 8. The device of claim 6, wherein theone or more processors are further to: determine session requirementscorresponding to each of the identified data flows, wherein the sessionrequirements comprise one or more of network type, data type, bandwidth,latency, jitter, or packet loss; and assign the identified data flows torespective VUEs based on the determined session requirements.
 9. Thedevice of claim 6, wherein the data flows are identified based onapplication layer or transport layer information provided in data to betransmitted.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises anaccess point device, and wherein the one or more processors areconfigured to facilitate connections thereto by a plurality of userdevices.
 11. The device of claim 10, wherein the access point device isintegrated within a vehicle.
 12. The device of claim 1, wherein when theone or more processors allocate the VUEs, the one or more processorsselect the VUEs from a pool of available VUEs, and wherein each of theVUEs include information associated with an owner of the device.
 13. Anon-transitory, computer-readable memory device storing one or moreinstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause theone or more processors to: determine one or more of a signal strength orsignal quality for each of a plurality of networks available forconnection to a device; allocate respective virtual user equipment(VUEs), from a pool of available VUEs associated with the device, to twoor more of the plurality of networks based on the one or more of thesignal strength or signal quality, wherein each of the VUEsindependently supports at least non-access stratum, physical layer(PHY), and medium access control (MAC) protocols for connection to thetwo or more networks; and connect with each of the two or more networksusing a respective VUE from the allocated VUEs.
 14. The non-transitory,computer-readable memory device of claim 13, wherein the two or morenetworks comprise different types of networks, and wherein the differenttypes of networks comprise two or more of cellular networks, a wirelessdata network, an ad-hoc network, a mesh network, a machine-to-machinenetwork, different service provider networks, or a vehicle-to-vehiclenetwork.
 15. The non-transitory, computer-readable memory device ofclaim 13, wherein the two or more networks are operated by two or moredifferent service providers.
 16. The non-transitory, computer-readablememory device of claim 13, wherein a first network of the two or morenetworks requires that a connecting device include a subscriberidentification module (SIM), and wherein the one or more instructionsfurther cause the one or more processors to: request a virtual SIM(vSIM) from a service provider associated with the first network;receive the requested vSIM from the service provider; and connect withthe first network based on the allocated VUE and the vSIM.
 17. Thenon-transitory, computer-readable memory device of claim 13, wherein theone or more instructions further cause the one or more processors to:identify network characteristics for the connections with the pluralityof networks; identify data flows; and assign the identified data flowsto the respective VUEs based on the identified network characteristics.18. A method, comprising: determining, by a user equipment (UE) device,one or more of a signal strength or signal quality for each of aplurality of networks available for connection to the UE device;allocating respective virtual UE (VUEs), selected from a pool ofavailable VUEs associated with the UE device, to two or more of theplurality of networks based on the one or more of the signal strength orsignal quality, wherein each of the VUEs independently supports at leastnon-access stratum (NAS), physical layer (PHY), and medium accesscontrol (MAC) protocols for connection to the two or more networks; andconnecting with each of the two or more networks using a respective VUE.19. The method of claim 18, wherein a first network of the two or morenetworks requires that the UE device include a subscriber identificationmodule (SIM), and wherein the method further comprises: requesting avirtual SIM (vSIM) from a service provider associated with the firstnetwork; receiving the requested vSIM from the service provider; andconnecting with the first network based on the allocated VUE and thevSIM.
 20. The method of claim 18, further comprising: identifyingnetwork characteristics for the connections with the plurality ofnetworks; identifying data flows; and assigning the identified dataflows to respective VUEs based on the identified networkcharacteristics.